Any romance reader can tell you that there is a difference between a snarky, sassy heroine and a bitchy heroine. Snarky, sassy heroines are intelligent and able to fire pithy one-liners at unsuspecting heroes in a single bound, posses an above-average grasp of sarcasm, and are—above all—supremely likeable. On the flip side, bitchy heroines are, well, bitchy. And while you do occasionally run into bitchy heroines in romance land, there’s no shortage of snarky, sassy ladies to make up for it, especially in paranormal romance. So, without further ado, here are our picks for the snarkiest, sassiest heroines you’ll ever find in paranormal romance novels.
​(Listed in no particular order. Also, these are all series. We’ve listed book 1 in each series so you’ll know where to start. You’re welcome. Also: we understand some of these books can be classified as urban fantasy. We get that. But without the romance element, the stories would be severely impacted, so we’ve included them and called them romance anyway. Plus, it’s our list, and no one is the boss of us, so we’re gonna include whatever we want. The end. Now, on with the show...)

Let’s be practical for a moment. It kind of sucks to go out on Valentine’s Day. Everything is crowded, the wait time at restaurants is insane, and everyone’s trying just a little too hard to prove how much they love the person they’re out with. Sure, it’s romantic and all. But admit it...there’s something oddly appealing about the idea of staying home, curled up in your favorite reading chair, wearing your comfiest sweats,readingabout hot and/or sweet Valentine’s Day romances instead of being out among the unwashed masses on a cold night in February. So, for all our fellow Valentine’s Day scrooges out there, this special Valentine’s Day “best of” list is for you!

The world of sports romance might be nearly overrun with male football, hockey, and basketball players (not to mention all the MMA fighters), but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a ton of notable female athletes to read about! So, with that in mind, in honor of the 2018 Winter Olympics, we bring you the best female athletes in sports romance today.

OK, I’ll admit to having a great love of tortured, angsty, damaged, grumpy heroes. I can’t really explain it, other than to say how much I love reading aboutthattype of guy falling ass-over-elbow for the woman of his dreams. It’s usually a GREAT ride getting there. But that doesn’t mean I don’t also appreciate the hell out of a “nice guy” hero. You know, the type you wouldn’t feel weird about taking home to meet your mom and dad. Now, I’m purposefully not using the term “beta hero” here, because I think that can sometimes take on a negative connotation. Some people think if the hero isn’t an alpha, domineering a-hole, that he can’t be sexy. Well, I’ve got the reads to prove that nice guys can be alpha. And further, they can be every bit as sexy as tortured, angsty, damaged, grumpy heroes. Check out these picks for the best “nice guy” heroes in romance today:

I blamePride and Prejudicefor our collective love of the enemies to lovers trope in romance. But I suppose that the “why” doesn’t really matter in this case. The fact is that the enemies to lovers trope has always been one of the most popular tropes in romance. (And the Star Wars universe these days. #Reylo #IWillGoDownWithThisShip. *clears throat* But I digress...)And with great books like the ones on this list, I don’t see that changing anytime soon…

If I’ve said it onceI’ve said it a thousand times: I can’t tolerate TSTL heroines. And I believe I also might have mentioned a time or tenthat I adore nothing more than ultra-smart, science-y/math-y/tech-y heroines. So, with that in mind, here are our top 12 picks for STEM heroines in romance today.

Who needs a soft-skinned, billionaire romance hero when you can have a guy who works with his hands every day? Those skills can translate to other areas of life, ladies. (Ahem) So, without further delay, here are our picks for 10 blue-collar romance hotties you’d let lay hands on you any day of the week (and twice on Sundays):

(And if you don’t have Bon Jovi’sLay Your Hands on Mestuck in your head after reading that intro, you might be too young to check out this list. Consider yourself warned.)​

We thought about getting cutesy and posting our letter to Santa letting him know what we want for Christmas this year (not the least of which is for Hugh Jackman and Chris Hemsworth to start posing for romance novel covers)—but let’s face it: y’all don’t want to know what WE want for Christmas. You want some recommendations for what to load onto that shiny new Kindles you got today, right? We’ll, we’re to please, folks. Here it is, our list of humble suggestions (all 5-star reads) in a few of our favorite categories within the romance genre.

I don’t know about you, but I personally don’t want a hot doctor, especially since I only ever go to see the doctor when I’m not exactly at my best. (Who wants to face a hot guy or gal when you’ve got a fever of 102 degrees and you’re spewing cold and flu germs all over the room every time you exhale? Not. Me.) But in romance, who doesn’t love a hot, sexy, giving, highly educated doctor who wants nothing more than take care of people? With that in mind, here are our picks for the hottest docs in romance. ​

If you’re anything like us, as soon as Prince Harry’s engagement to the lovely Meghan Markle was announced, you immediately dove into your Kindle and started searching for some royal romances to celebrate with. (Seriously, if these two don’t inspire you to read some romance, you might be hopeless. Is there any couple more adorable?) So, without further delay, here are our humble recommendations for 12 royal romances that arealmostas awesome as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle:

Let’s face it. Christmas time can be stressful. There’s shopping and endless parties you’d rather not go to and get-togethers with the in-laws and more shopping...ugh. What better way to treat yourself this stressful holiday season than putting on a pair of comfy sweats, and settling into your favorite chair in front of the fire with a cup of hot chocolate so that you can enjoy a nice, Christmas romance novel? Go ahead and put on your sweats and fix the hot chocolate. We’ve got your reading list ready to go:(NOTE: heat levels vary among the books on the list. Pay careful attention to author warnings and customer reviews so that you aren’t surprised in a bad way!)

So, Passionflix went ahead and started making movies based on romance novels without asking us what we thought. (Weird, right?) They’re doing a great job so far of picking novels we loved. But just so they know (because I’m sure they totally MEANT to ask us), here are 10 romance novels we really NEED to see made into Passionflix movies. Like, now.

For a while there, for some reason (*cough*Twilight*cough*) you couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting a vampire or a werewolf in Romance Land. (Not that we kill and/or swing cats, because, ew...it’s just an expression) So, it’s not surprising that when you say the words “paranormal romance”, some readers automatically assume you’re talking about vampires that may or may not sparkle in the sunlight and brooding werewolves suffering from unrequited love. But we’re here to tell you that you CAN read paranormal romance that’s not about vampires and werewolves, and we have the recommendations to prove it! Here are our top picks for paranormal romances that DON’T feature a vampire or werewolf protagonist:

(Note: a few of these might be officially classified as urban fantasy, but we’ve included them in this list because there’s a strong romantic element in each, and if the romance was to be removed, the story would be negatively impacted. Plus, it’s our list and we do what we want. No one is the boss of us. So, let’s not debate the differences between paranormal romance and urban fantasy, m’kay? This is just for fun.)